Tuesday, 25 July 2017

William Crockford's St James's Club

Crockford was born 13 January 1776 in Temple Bar, London,
the son of a fishmonger, and for some time himself carried on that business. He
married firstly (1801) Mary Lockwood and secondly (20 May 1812 St George's
Hanover Square) Sarah Frances Douglass. After winning a large sum of money
(according to one story, £100,000) either at cards or by running a gambling
establishment, he built a luxurious gambling house designed by Benjamin and
Philip Wyatt at 50-53 St James's Street in 1827. In order to ensure
exclusiveness, he organized the house as a members' club under the name
"The St James's Club" though popularly known as "Crockford's
Club" and it quickly became the rage – every English social celebrity and
every distinguished foreigner visiting London hastened to become a member. Even
the Duke of Wellington joined, though it is alleged this was in order merely to
blackball his son, Lord Douro, should he seek election. Hazard was the
favourite game, and very large sums changed hands.

Crockford retired in 1840, when, in the expressive language
of Captain Rees Howell Gronow, he had "won the whole of the ready money of
the then existing generation." He took approximately £1,200,000 out of the
club, but subsequently invested some of it unwisely, particularly with two of
his sons and one daughter (Henry, Charles and Fanny Crockford) in mining and
zinc manufacturing in Greenfield, Flintshire, Wales. Crockford died at his home
11 Carlton House Terrace (later Prime Minister Gladstone's home) on 24 May 1844.
and lies buried in a family vault underneath Kensal Green Cemetery Chapel
London

Crockford's, the popular name for William Crockford's St
James's Club was a London gentlemen's club, now dissolved. It was established in
1823, closed in 1845, re-founded in 1928 and closed in 1970. One of London's
older clubs, it was centred on gambling and maintained a somewhat raffish and
raucous reputation. It was founded by William Crockford who employed Benjamin
Wyatt and Philip Wyatt to construct the city's most opulent palace of
gentlemanly pleasure, which opened in November 1827 and he employed two of
London's finest chefs of the time, Louis Eustache Ude and then Charles Elmé
Francatelli to feed its members, food and drink being supplied free after
midnight.

From 1823, the club leased 50 St. James's Street, and then
nos. 51–53, which enabled Crockford to pull down all four houses and build his
palatial club on the site. After the club's closure, this continued to be used as
a clubhouse, at first briefly by the short-lived Military, Naval and County
Service Club, and then between 1874 and 1976 it was home to the Devonshire
Club.

“The Georgian Art of Gambling takes readers on a wild tour
through high and low society in Georgian England to reveal all aspects of the
widespread love of gambling. From detailed accounts of the fashionable card and
dice games of the day, as played in fine homes and gambling houses alike, to
wagering on blood sports like cockfighting and bull baiting, and such less
gruesome affairs as boxing and cricket, Claire Cock-Starkey brings to life the
world of Jane Austen; Beau Brummel; Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire; and more.
We see aristocrats ruined by the turn of a card; activists mounting
antigambling campaigns through pamphlets, broadsides, and legislation; and the
devious machinations of card sharps and dice loaders. Cock-Starkey also offers
rules and descriptions for a number of games that have fallen out of favor,
along with copious anecdotes and facts about the culture of chance in Regency
England.”